Menu Plan Monday

We have been off of our whole foods way of eating for the past couple of weeks and we can ALL feel it. Kyle says we have to clean up our act before the holidays and all that comes with that! So I am beginning again, in earnest, and getting us back on track. Hear that Doug? No more chips with lunch or cans of soup...and I'm throwing out all the white sugar today, too!

Monday: Stuffed cabbage leaves. Grass fed beef and brown rice stuffed inside cabbage leaves and simmered in organic tomato sauce all day in the crock pot.

Tuesday: Lentil tacos on homemade sprouted wheat tortillas. Lentil tacos are really good! I'll make a double batch so we can eat them as lunch during the week. I also make these without stirring in the salsa and we don't use "fat free" anything!

Wednesday: Grilled chicken and collard greens from the garden.

Thursday: Easy quiche and salad from the garden. We'll omit the ham in the quiche and use broccoli from the garden and yard eggs.

Friday: Fried rice. Will use brown rice, shredded carrot, peas, broccoli, and green onion. And a tip if you make this: make sure your rice is cold before stir frying!

Saturday: Homemade pizza with sprouted wheat crust.

Sunday: Broccoli cheese soup with homemade whole wheat bread.

Breakfasts are oatmeal, 10 grain cereal, and this weekend I made a huge batch of waffles to put into the freezer.
Lunches will be mainly leftovers. I'll make a huge batch of tortillas for wraps and snacks. I'll also keep a large selection of fruit, cheeses, air popped popcorn, and kefir for the kids to munch on (instead of the crackers, Gogurt, and packaged crap they've been eating for the last two weeks!)

Check out hundreds of other meal plans at www.orgjunkie.com

Handmade Christmas

IF YOU ARE A RELATIVE STOP READING NOW!.
or at least act surprised when the boys give you their gift!

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I always try to find a craft the boys can make to give for Christmas. We've made soap, ornaments, rice bags, you name it-we've made it!
I came across this idea from 'We Are THAT Family' and totally stole it!
Handmade coasters.
Buy a box or two of small tiles and stamp or stencil on a pretty design:

Spray on a little polyurethane to seal and place those felt rounds in each corner of the tile:

The boys really enjoyed making these coasters! I think I'm going back to Home Depot for another box of tiles...I want the kids to make some for ME!

Oh, who am I kidding? Who's going to use a coaster in THIS house?

A movie by Kyle...

Kyle loves to play on the Windows Movie Maker and made this short film especially for our blog, so enjoy!

The ultimate fighting weapons...

...made from Hot Pockets sleeves!

Evil villains and older brothers BEWARE!

Catch me if you can!

More scenes from our snow day

It started snowing again for the SECOND time today and this time it lasted about 2 hours. We had a spell there where it was coming down in buckets! It was like being in a big snowglobe and it was wonderful!

SNOW DAY!

For the first time in four years it has snowed again in south Texas! Doug was getting a drink at the kitchen sink and exclaimed, "Snow! It's snowing!" I thought he was kidding, but there it was! The kids ran outside (without shoes or jackets) and it was pure bliss. We just had small flurries for about 30 minutes, but it was good enough for us! Now the boys are praying for a white Christmas!

"Oh the weather outside is frightful...."

See that little weather radar on my iGoogle homepage? I've never seen those lovely colors of PINK and BLUE and was a little taken aback when I logged on this morning. It's gotten cold enough here in south Texas to get sleet...trust me, a very rare occurrence in these parts!

Yesterday it was 76 degrees outside and my kids were running around in shorts and now we have a wind chill of 25 degrees!
Only in Texas I tell ya!

Saving lunch!

So my NyQuil fog cleared yesterday and I set about making some Ezekiel bread. It turned out to be an EPIC FAIL! The taste was really good, very nutty and hearty, but the texture was like chewing cardboard slathered in wallpaper paste...it was awful! I wrapped it up and put it in the fridge thinking I would use it to feed the birds, then I thought, why not make croutons out of it?

I got out my hacksaw, um...serrated knife and cubed it up:

Melted a little butter and combined that with garlic powder and parm. cheese:

Tossed that with the bread and baked at 350 for about 45 minutes.

While the bread was toasting I went out to the garden and picked some lettuce.

Some baby spinach...

And some radish...

Voila, lunch!

And I'm going to need all the energy I can get! I have four days worth of laundry and general cleaning to tackle...

...ummm, on second thought, Doug where did you hide the NyQuil?

This post brought to you by NyQuil...

Despite all my best efforts, a little head cold is running it's way through our family. So if you see me slurring my words and not making sense, you can blame it on my self imposed thick, green NyQuil fog. Man, that is good stuff!

Hey, who let these punks in my bed?

Mama just downed a dose of the green stuff (did ya know it comes with it's own shot glass?) and Daddy's coming to slather me up with the Vicks...

THAT visual made them scatter!

I should be back to my regular posting and making Ezekiel bread by tomorrow,
that is if my fog doesn't turn into a coma...

I've been tagged...TWICE!

I was tagged for the same meme by Linda and Dana, so here is goes girls....

SIX THINGS THAT MAKE ME HAPPY:

1. My boys. I especially love it when they wake up first thing in the morning! I love those little nappy bedheads and the way they say good morning all warm and sleepy.

2. My Dougie-Poo. We've been together for 20 years now (married for 15!) and the time has flown by! He gets me...he TOTALLY gets me.

3. Gardening. Not flower gardening but vegetable gardening. I wish I had discovered my love for agriculture in college, my life would have taken a whole different turn!

4. Baking bread. It fuels my soul, it's therapy of the best kind for me. Taking raw wheat and making food to nourish my babies is very empowering to me.

5. My faith. I love my Holy Catholic faith and thank God everyday for bringing me to it!

6. Sitting in my backyard sipping tea (or kombucha!) and watching the sunset while the kids play in the field.

Now I tag:
1. Sonya at Appel Quilling
2. Cassandra at The Baby Baldovinos Journey
3. Anyone else who wants to tell me what makes them happy!

Welcome to our virtual Christmas cookie swap!

I can't wait to see all the wonderful recipes you have to share! To "swap a cookie" just click on Mr. Linky and paste your post!

Here's my favorite Christmas cookie to swap with all of you:


PECAN SANDIES:

* 1 cup margarine, softened
* 1 cup vegetable oil
* 1 cup white sugar
* 1 cup confectioners' sugar, sifted
* 2 eggs
* 1 teaspoon vanilla extract
* 4 cups all-purpose flour
* 1 teaspoon baking soda
* 1 teaspoon cream of tartar
* 1 teaspoon salt
* 2 cups chopped pecans
* 1/2 cup white sugar for decoration

DIRECTIONS

1. Preheat oven to 375 degrees
2. In a large bowl, cream together the margarine, vegetable oil, 1 cup white sugar and confectioners' sugar until smooth. Beat in the eggs one at a time, then stir in the vanilla. Combine the flour, baking soda, cream of tartar and salt, stir into the creamed mixture. Mix in the pecans. Roll dough into 1 inch balls and roll each ball in remaining white sugar. Place the cookies 2 inches apart onto ungreased cookie sheets.
3. Bake for 10 to 12 minutes in the preheated oven, or until the edges are golden. Remove from cookie sheets to cool on wire racks.

This recipe makes a TON!

Ummmm....who's bringing the Bailey's and coffee?

Wow! Just wow!

Brew a cup of something hot, sit down for 20 minutes and watch this really informative video. We've slowly been converting to a more natural lifestyle and this just really puts that goal paramount in my book.
This video is put together by the Environmental Working Group, an incredible non-profit organization, dedicated to researching toxic chemicals and contaminants, informing us (the consumers and parents) of what they are finding, telling us how to avoid these toxins and even lobbying to help change legislature and put protective bills into place.
I am NOT of the hippie, tree-hugger, global warming set by any stretch of the imagination...and neither are these folks. THESE FACTS DON'T LIE!
Please watch this video and pass it along...

Virtual Christmas Cookie Swap!

Don't forget to check back in tomorrow and post your favorite holiday cookie recipe!

The staff of life...

I DID IT!

I made my first loaf of sprouted bread!
I tell ya, just short of growing the wheat myself, I feel like a real pioneer woman!

hello lover...

LeaAnn, you were right! Each cup of sprouted wheat gave me 1 1/2 cups of flour. I had enough to make two gorgeous loaves and a dozen plus tortillas for tonight's dinner. You definitely know this bread is whole wheat! The crumb is dense, but not too dense (thanks to the vital gluten) and it has a totally different flavor of whole wheat. It's very rustic in my opinion. Even though I had the grain mill set on "fine" I still got a little hunk of wheat every now and then in the bread that was very nice.

We had our bread toasted with some raw honey this morning for breakfast, and it did not disappoint! Although JP DID point out it took me almost four days to make him that piece of toast!

Here's a tip, to store your homemade bread just re-use an old bread bag:

HOMEMADE WHOLE WHEAT BREAD:

2 cups warm water
2/3 cup sugar
1 1/2 tablespoons active dry yeast
1 1/2 teaspoons salt
1/4 cup olive or vegetable oil (I use coconut oil when I have it!)
6 cups flour
(You can use any combo of flours you have on hand for this recipe. For my wheat breads I have found that 4C. of whole wheat and 2C. of white or oat flour makes the nicest texture)
4-6 tsp. of vital gluten (not necessary if you are making white bread and makes whole grain breads lighter in texture)

DIRECTIONS

1. In a large bowl, dissolve the sugar in warm water, and then stir in yeast. Allow to proof until yeast resembles a creamy foam. If using instant yeast you can skip this step.
2. Mix salt and oil into the yeast. Mix in flour one cup at a time. Knead dough on a lightly floured surface until smooth. Add flour during kneading just enough to keep the dough from sticking to your hands. Place in a well oiled bowl, and turn dough to coat. Cover with a damp cloth. Allow to rise until doubled in bulk, about 1 hour.
3. Punch dough down. Knead for a few minutes, and divide in half. Shape into loaves, and place into two well oiled 9x5 inch loaf pans. Allow to rise for an hour, or until dough has risen 1 inch above pans.
4. Bake at 350 degrees for 30 minutes.

**NOTE: This is my basic EVERYTHING bread! It is very versatile and very forgiving. You can add ground flax, seeds, and wheat germ for added nutrition. You can roll it out after the first rise and brush on butter, cinnamon and sugar for a sweet bread. You can even knead in herbs , cheese, and fruit if you like!

Virtual Christmas Cookie Swap!

Join us here on Friday December 5th for the first annual
Creamer Chronicles Virtual Christmas Cookie Swap!
During the week, gather your favorite family cookie recipes and post them on your blog. Visit back on Friday and post the link to your blog (I'll have "Mr. Linky" up and running by then!) and we'll all share in a virtual cookie swap for the holidays!
Don't have a blog? No problem! Just post your recipe in the comments section!
See you Friday!
(and by all means, copy the picture tag above and paste on your blog to tell others!)